Warning About Two Therapies for Tourette's, OCD - obsessive-compulsive disorder

0 Comments | Family Practice News, Sept 15, 2000 | by Deeanna Franklin

The National Institute of Mental Health and Tourette Syndrome Association have issued an official warning concerning the potential risk of certain medical treatments to children with Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Some parents of children who have Tourette's syndrome (TS) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are seeking out plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), treatments that are being used in experimental trials at the National Institute of Mental Health in children with pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS).

The warning advises parents seeking plasma exchange or IVIG that there is no evidence of their efficacy in children with TS or OCD and not even any definitive evidence that it is efficacious for children with PANDAS.

Both treatments are considered serious medical interventions that carry a potential for significant adverse reactions, the warning states.

According to the alert, PANDAS patients should not be treated outside of clinical research protocols; further information about such studies at NIMH is available at http://intramural.nihm.nih.gov/research/pdn/web.htm.> The text of the warning can be accessed at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/events/pandaalert.cfm.>

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